I'm wondering about the feasibility of using my iMac's built-in bluetooth as a source for keyboard input to my iphone.

There are times I want to type longer messages in my iphone, i keep a bluetooth keyboard around just to have a full sized keyboard to use on the iphone. I don't use the keyboard on my iMac because I have an ergonomic keyboard there that I much prefer. What I think would be great is to use that corded ergonomic keyboard as an input to the iphone via a bluetooth device that uses the iMac.

I wanted a feature like this a LONG time ago. Pair your computer to your iPhone/iPad, use some client app to push keyboard focus (ala. a virtual machine) onto the iPhone/iPad. That would be wonderful.
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Jason SalazNov 30 '10 at 5:54

4 Answers
4

There are two apps in App Store iKeyboard ($9.99) and Type2Phone ($4.99) that allow to use your Mac's keyboard as Bluetooth keyboard. The obvious requirements are Mac with Bluetooth and OS X 10.6.6+ (for App Store).

I used Type2Phone for a long time, but got very annoyed with it's mouse driven interface (read: slow), not to mention mostly unnecessary interface (watch the letters fly by! whatever). I also wanted to use it for more than just iOS devices. I stumbled on 1Keyboard which I enjoy quite a bit. It's a generic bluetooth keyboard (and mouse!) binding app. I seem to recall seeing a Type2Phone update addressing some of these, but I don't intend to switch back at the moment.
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Jason SalazSep 29 '13 at 20:11

I'd recommend using the dedicated Bluetooth keyboard if it's not too much hassle, as it's currently the most elegant solution.

If you really want to type from the iMac though, you'll need a Jailbroken iPhone. There is a VNC server called "Veency" available from Cydia. You'll then need a VNC client for the iMac (I use JollysFastVNC myself). The iMac and iPhone also need to be networked via either Wifi or Bluetooth LAN.

You'll want to ignore the video and just look at the iPhone's screen while typing, because it lags heavily.

I would love to have something more elegant to suggest, but other mouse/keyboard-only solutions like Synergy or Teleport are Desktop/Notebook only at the moment.

This was a terrific idea and works like a charm, better even because now my mouse can be my finger. It's a ridiculous step backwards, but it's the outcome I wanted, simply using different tech. Brilliant mate.
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MutantDec 2 '10 at 23:10